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| Ilya Repin's " Get Behind Me Satan " |
Jesuit Father Gerry Blaszczak analyzes
Pope Francis’ frequent references to the devil in terms of the doctrine of St. Ignatius of Loyola, which emphasizes the grim work of the enemy
to discourage and spread despondency among those who are attempting to
live a spiritual life. We are all familiar with the dynamic of
temptation, which often has a very optimistic dimension. The forbidden
fruit promises a happiness which we are led to believe God cannot give,
or refuses to give. But everything changes once we consent, unless we
have managed to deaden our consciences. The Liar becomes the Accuser
and our entanglement with sin becomes a more and more morbid
preoccupation with our own negative spiritual experience. This is
hardly optimistic. It is also why Satan appears as an angel of light,
and why in a particular way, he uses the image of woman, depersonalized
and debased, to falsify the way of beauty. We need to be convinced that
something that feels so good cannot possible be wrong, and so
pornography becomes art, sex becomes mysticism and sodomy becomes
marriage. This is Satan’s “optimism.”
Link (here) to Mary Victrix to read the full piece
1 comment:
Whoever "Frangelo" (i.e. the author of this piece) is I really have to commend him...very well done. I don't remember the exact quote, but the story goes that a postulent asked St Anthony the Great what the most difficult part of monastic life was, and his answer was something like, "the unending attacks by demons". There are many artistic rendition of this which capture the physical attack, but underline it is also one of spiritual as well as psychological. I think in our modern culture, we get an incessant barrage in the form of very rational, intelligent and caring people (no one is challenging any of these traits) who are convinced that the Catholic church (or Christianity/organized religion in general) is on the "mild" side of the spectrum out-dated/useless/nonsensical/illogical and on the other end harmful/destructive/hateful/intolerant etc. This is of course seen throughout the cultural elite of our society, which typically only accepts or advances like-minded followers (the Mel Gibsons and James Cavaziel are exceptions to the rule). I can't say this generation is any more or less stupid than any other, or that societal/peer pressures are any greater than they were in other eras. But with the amount and speed of information, let's just say fears of where we are heading is readily available.
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